Newsletter 15 November 2024
“It’s Official”
Our local City Council Office wasted no time in getting the Welcome to Ballincollig signs updated with Ballincollig’s latest wins in the 2024 SuperValu National Tidy Towns Competition.
Our thanks to the local office staff for their continued support.
Sunday Gifts
On Sunday morning we had 36 volunteers and 1 Transition Year Student for our Weekly Litter Pick. We covered all the usual areas and a good section of the Regional Park. Pat collected 14 bags of general litter plus 1 bag of glass and 1 bag of cans.
This included bags from during the weeks litter picks.
Pat also collected 13 bags of leaves from Leo Murphy Terrace Well done to the Residents.
When we arrived at The Plaza each volunteer was treated to an individually wrapped red carnation courtesy of Joan and Denise owners of Tudor Rose Florists on Main Street. They wanted each volunteer to have a special flower to say Well done and Thank You.
We are really appreciative of this very kind and thoughtful gesture from Tudor Rose.
Winter Planting
On Sunday morning volunteers John and Anne spent the morning filling the 30 inserts for the railing planters with heathers and bulbs while they awaited the arrival on Thursday of primulas. These were very impressive last year and hopefully they will brighten the winter days.
Gum and Butt Bins
On Sunday morning our volunteer Denis put the special stickers on the poles above each of the much used Gum and Butt bins. We are very happy with the volume of cigarette butts and Chewing gum being deposited in the bins and we encourage more people to use them. They certainly make a big difference.
Saturday Planting
Early on Saturday morning 16 volunteers and 7 Transition Year Students descended on Poulavone Roundabout to carry out winter and spring planting. Under the direction and guidance of Alan from Clockhouse Nurseries we firstly weeded the 5 outlining beds while Alan was cutting back the flowers and plants in the centre section. Once weeded we planted heathers and daffodils in each of the 5 beds and then planted several hundred daffodils on the outside of the centre section. Everyone worked very hard to get over 200 heathers and thousands of daffodil bulbs planted. On Tuesday Jimmy and Keith strimmed the two wild flower beds. On Wednesday evening then the lads from O’Donovan Agri kindly gave the grass its last cut.
A fantastic team effort from everyone and the roundabout is looking very well in advance of the Christmas Lights being turned on courtesy of Cork City Council.
Leafy Monday
Gay and Keith spent a busy Monday morning collecting leaves.
They collected sixty bags from from Beech Road, eight bags from Pine Walk, sixteen from Island Way, ten from Fr sexton Park All the leaves were emptied into Compost Bay 1.
Cope Visit
On Tuesday we visited Cope Ballincollig with the All Ireland winning Tidy Towns Trophies. They were delighted to see that the fruits of their hard work litter picking throughout the years had continued to Ballincollig’s success.
What an amazing group of dedicated tidy towns supporters.
Trophies on Tour 1
Ballincollig Tidy Towns appreciate the support of John O’Leary Auto Repairs for providing free all the routine servicing and any necessary repairs to the BTT van.
Trophies on Tour 2
Our sincere thanks to Jerry Murphy and his team at R & R Tyres for giving such good complimentary care to the tyres on our Ballincollig Tidy Towns Van, our 3 trailers & wheelbarrows.
We really appreciate this fantastic support.
Trophies on Tour 3
John, Lucia & Finbarr of O’Neill’s Sand & Stone holding the All Ireland Tidy Towns trophies in front of the round tower at their Head Office in Ballincollig.
We are indebted to the O’Neill family for their amazing support through the years.
Busy Tuesday
On Tuesday morning Keith and Jimmy brought all the bottles to the bottle bank. They then trimmed the wild flowers on the Poulavone Roundabout.
They then went on to collect 5 tonne bags of leaves from Fr. Sexton Park and
Th brought them 7 more empty tonne bags to continue their hard work.
Autumnal Works
On Wednesday Ger H and Keith did an amazing job on cleaning up the shrubs surrounding the statue at the entrance to Ballincollig at Poulavone.
They certainly made a great job of cutting them back.
Times Past Launch
Last Monday night our Vice chairperson Pat Clarke was in own words honoured to be asked by the Muskerry Local History Society to launch Volume 16 of Times Past.
The Muskerry Local History Society launched Volume 16 of Times Past Journal at the Ballincollig Rugby Club in front of a very large attendance.
This journal began life as The Journal of the Ballincollig Community School Local History Society, with its first publication in 1984. In 1987 it changed its name to Times Past, Journal of the Ballincollig Community School Local History Society. It continued publication until 1992. Since 2010-2011, it has been published by the Muskerry Local History Society every two years.
The 16th edition of the Journal is packed full of articles covering both local and surrounding areas.
With 24 individual articles covered in the journal there is something of interest for everybody.
The following titles are just a few examples of the wide variety of topics covered;
The Bedrock Geology of Ballincollig.
Richard Neville Nettles Hawkes, from Kilcrea House to the goldmines of Australia and New Zealand.
Factors in the history of Bellmount Mills, Crookstown, County Cork.
Finbarr O’Neill – O’Neills Sand & Gravel- A Local Success.
Ballincollig Garda Station.
The First Bangharda in Cork.
Growing up in Ballincollig in the 1940’s.
Coca Cola in Cork and Ireland- “IT’S THE REAL THING”
This journal has something for everybody regardless of whether you are a historian or just curious about the history of your area. This is a quality publication and the articles are very extensively researched and it is a credit to all contributors for the time and dedication that they have put into their research. It is very important that all of this local history is recorded and saved for future generations. If it is not recorded now it will be lost forever.
At a cost of €10.00 it is very good value and would make an ideal gift for friends or relatives abroad.
“On Maglin Road on an Autumn day
There was no stopping Keith and Ger H on Wednesday. After the work on the statue they headed to Maglin Road where they removed 4 tonne bags of leaves from the footpath. All the leaves were taken to compost bay 1.
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